Air New Zealand joined the likes of Continental and Virgin airlines by using a biofuel blend to diversify its fuel source, becoming the latest addition to the green wave in airline transportation. Jatropha was the feedstock for this airline’s particular pilot biofuel.
The airline had a two-hour flight on December 23 to test the blend. While the debate still brews as to whether some biofuel feedstocks are taking away from food sources, but aviation industry officials said that they are committed to using sustainable biofuels that do not threaten food supplies for land or water as part of their alternative fuel tests.
Air New Zealand also explained that the criteria for sourcing the jatropha oil required that the land had not been either forest land or virgin grassland within the previous two decades. The quality of the soil and climate was such that the land was not suitable for the vast majority of food crops. Furthermore, the farms the jatropha was grown on were rain-fed, not mechanically irrigated.
The jatropha used in the Air New Zealand flight came from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and India.